macrumors 68040

well i am at work and i have a man round my house installing a 42" Hitachi plasma screen with a Hardon Kardon surround sound

anyway

you all know what i want to do with it ! POWERBOOK to PLASMA

DVI on PowerBook and DVI on Plasma

what do i need to know ? what sort of screen res can i get ?

Pictures will be posted when i get it working

Click to expand...

It'll probably let you go to 1920 x 1080, but there's not a 1920 x 1080 native plasma on the planet. I'd suggest 1280 x 720, especially if it's a 1024 x 768 w/ stretched pixels plasma display. It might also suggest a 13something by something else mode, which could be its native res, depending on the quality of the display.

thread startermacrumors 601

It'll probably let you go to 1920 x 1080, but there's not a 1920 x 1080 native plasma on the planet. I'd suggest 1280 x 720, especially if it's a 1024 x 768 w/ stretched pixels plasma display. It might also suggest a 13something by something else mode, which could be its native res, depending on the quality of the display.

Click to expand...

Good will try that

does Mac OS X look good on a Plasma ? or does it look out of this world lol

macrumors 68020

I have been wondering about this awesome. My dad is obsessed with getting a plasma, and when I heard that the one he was looking at had DVI ports, my eyes lit up. Thanks for the info fellas, I will definately be trying this as soon as the TV gets installed in the living room...

macrumors G4

John Lewis in Oxford St had a Mac Mini running OS X and iTunes on a 42" plasma... but they obviously hadn't spent any time tweaking it or figuring out the best resolution. I nearly caused a pile up at the top of the escalator when I spotted it and had to reverse...

macrumors 601

Not the right one, judging by those photos. Ew! Get the correct screen shape, please! It's all stretched.

Click to expand...

I'd say that he's got it set on 1024x768 since that's the native resolution for all 42" HDTV plasmas on the market right now, with the exception of the ALiS interlaced panels. Although many Hitachis have the ALiS panels.

Anyways, liketom could try using SwitchResX or DisplayConfigX to get a better resolution, such as 1280x720 (aka 720p) or 1280x768. The plasma should be able to take that resolution and scale it. The text may be a little fuzzy (since the pixels are rectangular), but it'll be usable.

If it does turn out to be an ALiS panel, I don't know what your options are.

macrumors 6502

Moderator

Staff Member

I'd say that he's got it set on 1024x768 since that's the native resolution for all 42" HDTV plasmas on the market right now, with the exception of the ALiS interlaced panels. Although many Hitachis have the ALiS panels.

Click to expand...

I'm not disputing that native resolution, but what would possess a manufacturer to produce an HDTV display that does not support the HD aspect ratio: 16:9 (or 1.78:1)? 1024x768 is only 4:3 (or 1.33:1).

macrumors 601

I'm not disputing that native resolution, but what would possess a manufacturer to produce an HDTV display that does not support the HD aspect ratio: 16:9 (or 1.78:1)? 1024x768 is only 4:3 (or 1.33:1).

Click to expand...

The reason that plasma manufacturers make screens with 1024x768 resolutions is that they don't have the ability to create pixels that small in the Horizontal direction. So what they do is make the pixel rectangular. The human eye can't resolve detail in the horizontal as well as it can in the vertical direction. That's why even with the rectangular pixels, HD on 16:9 1024x768 screens look great.

Right now, only 50" plasmas use square pixels in a 16:9ish ratio. Usually, 50" screens are built at 1280x768 or 1366x768.

macrumors 601

Isn't there a pretty significant risk of burned-in images with plasma?

Click to expand...

That pretty much is a thing of the past. The manufacturers have gotten so good with different manufacturing and operating techniques, that you really don't have to worry too much about burn in.

What you do have to do is keep the brightness and contrast down during the 1st 1000 hours of use. You also don't want to have the letterbox (or pillarbox) bars on for an extended period of time during the break-in period. Another thing you don't want to do is leave a static image on the screen for too long, which is exactly what a computer might do. So if I were to use a Mac with a plasma, I would set the screen saver to come on after a minute or so. I would also use a screen saver that changed the screen often (probably a picture slide show). And I wouldn't use an application on too long, otherwise the menu bar might cause problems.

MacRumors attracts a broad audience
of both consumers and professionals interested in
the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on
purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms.